


Only You Can Choose Your Fate

by Eustacia Vye (eustaciavye)



Series: Becoming A Family [2]
Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-09-22
Updated: 2010-09-22
Packaged: 2017-10-12 03:05:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/120065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eustaciavye/pseuds/Eustacia%20Vye
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ariadne, Eames and Arthur had been together for a long time, and there was no need for them to put a name to their relationship. No one else's opinion mattered to them anyway.</p><p>For the inception_kink prompt in round 6: <a href="http://community.livejournal.com/inception_kink/9327.html?thread=16865391#t16865391">Five times someone/people judged their relationship and the one time it truly mattered.</a> Vaguely a sequel to <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/113283">Curve Of The Earth,</a> where the boys are worried about having a baby.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Only You Can Choose Your Fate

**ONE**

"Only the father can be in the delivery room," the nurse said, frowning at the two men standing in front of her. "I understand you're both close with her, but only the baby's father can be in there."

There was a strangled scream from inside the room, and both men flinched. "Lady," the British one said, jaw clenched tight. "We're both the father."

She looked ready to gear up for a fight, but Arthur couldn't be bothered. "Ariadne wants us both in there." His face was shuttered and tight. "Right now, her opinion matters more than yours."

Without a word, both of them walked into Ariadne's hospital room. "Oh, thank god," she said in relief. She grasped one hand from each man and squeezed tightly as another contraction hit. "They can't give me an epidural," she whimpered. "I'm too far along."

"Fucking nurse," Eames growled.

"I told you we should've gone to the other hospital," Arthur said. "They were nicer and Saito would've made sure we were treated with respect."

"My mother can't fly to Japan," Ariadne gasped. "Is she here yet?"

"I called her," Arthur assured her. "I haven't called anyone else yet, though..."

"I did. Cobb and the kids and Yusuf will probably be here in the morning," Eames said, stroking Ariadne's hair. "I think your Mum and Arthur's Mum will be in the waiting area in the lobby." For the first time in a long time, he regretted the falling out he had with his own mother. She had died years ago, so there was no making up for walking out. He rather thought she might be proud of the man he'd finally become.

The doctor was flustered at first by the sight of both Arthur and Eames with Ariadne, but he quickly got to work. The nurse that had talked to them earlier didn't come in; instead a younger nurse assisted with the delivery. She might have thought that her disapproval mattered, but she was gravely mistaken.

 

 **TWO**

"Are you sure you're doing the right thing by her?" Cobb asked, looking over the children playing together.

Eames frowned at Cobb and followed his gaze. Phillipa and James were so much older than Gwendolyn, but she was much smarter than other two year olds and insisted on playing with Phillipa and James as well as children her own age. The other kids from her day care class were present for her birthday party, and they all seemed to do well. His gaze then fell on Arthur and Ariadne, clearing away the Duplo blocks to make room for the birthday cake. Gwendolyn looked more like Arthur in his opinion, but her smarts were all Ariadne. She built impossible Duplo towers that tumbled over on themselves, making her laugh. She loved snatching up Ariadne's pencils to sit at her drafting table to do her drawings. She could already count to five and knew her colors. Her favorite shape was an oval, if Eames had to judge by her artwork.

"What do you mean by that?" Eames asked carefully. He didn't want Arthur or Ariadne to be upset if they caught Eames taking a swing at Cobb's face.

"You're still working, I mean," Cobbs said gruffly. He waved around the house. "You're not always here. That can't be good for Gwen."

"We can afford to be choosy, Dom," Eames replied, shoving his hands in his pockets. That would force him to think carefully. Cobb thought he was well meaning, but his preachy tone rubbed Eames the wrong way. Cobb could hardly pretend to be father of the year himself.

"That's not what I meant."

"We've got the house here, the one in the south of France that Ariadne designed and that penthouse suite in Tokyo. She has a steady day care class here, and we vacation all over the world. She's a happy kid, Dom." Eames rocked slowly on his heels. "Someone's always with her that's trained, but we're damn good at what we do. We take every precaution to stay safe."

"You can't always take her with you," Cobb said, trying again.

"Even on a job, all three of us don't always need to plug in. She's never alone."

"She's going to remember this someday," Cobb murmured, startled by the excited squealing. Saito had sent a hand carved dollhouse for Gwen's second birthday, but it had been a near thing. He had wanted to get Gwen a pony and riding lessons, but Ariadne had put her foot down. Gwen was too young for that.

Eames figured Saito would just try again when Gwen was five or six.

"I hope so," Eames said with a smile on his face as he watched Arthur swing around to pick up Gwen. The two of them laughed, and Ariadne tickled Gwen's stomach. "She'll remember she has three times the ordinary amount of love."

 

 **THREE**

Arthur hated waiting for the doctor. Ariadne's OB-GYN was a good one, and understood their situation completely. It was partly why they had agreed to stick with her for so long, flying to Paris from wherever they were in the world for her checkups. Eames and Gwen were playing with the tabletop toys in the waiting area, and Arthur tried to read a magazine while Ariadne was inside with her doctor. She liked making fun of him, but he couldn't go inside with her. Just the thought of a doctor was enough to send his blood pressure skyrocketing.

"It's so nice of you to stay with your surrogate."

Arthur turned toward the woman beside him, startled. "What?"

The brunette woman smiled kindly at him. "So many couples don't really have any kind of relationship with their surrogate mothers. It was like that for my cousin."

"She's not some kind of surrogate," Arthur corrected. "The three of us are together."

The woman frowned, clearly not understanding it. "But..."

He turned at the sound of Gwen crying. "Excuse me," he said shortly, heading over to her. Eames already was kissing her fingers, which had been caught between the beads on the wire. "Hey, peanut," he said, kneeling down beside Gwen. She hiccuped and held out her hand to Arthur. "Ah. Lemme kiss it and make it better."

"Papa did," Gwen said solemnly, looking up at him with Ariadne's eyes. "Daddy, too."

Arthur grinned and kissed her fingers. "Let's go see if _Maman_ is all done."

"Then we'll go get ice cream, poppet," Eames added.

Arthur ignored the other woman's judgmental eyes on them when they left the office.

 

 **FOUR**

Ariadne stretched and grinned as Gwen copied her motion. They were at a Mommy and Me yoga class, which helped to keep Ariadne limber. She was five months pregnant now, and this time they were thinking of actually finding out if it was a boy or girl. After the class, Ariadne sat down heavily on one of the chairs and watched Gwen race around the room with the other kids. She took a sip of water to catch her breath. She didn't remember being this tired while carrying Gwen.

"Hi, I'm Heather," another woman said, introducing herself. "That's my daughter CeCe playing with yours."

Ariadne found it to be fairly pleasant but innocuous conversation. As the day was winding down, Heather helped her to gather her belongings. "I hate to pry," Heather began. "But I notice there are two guys coming around. Is one of them Gwen's father?"

"They both are," Ariadne said, zipping up the diaper bag.

Heather frowned, obviously confused. "Oh. You mean, like one is the biological father and one is her stepfather? It's really nice that they can get along like that. I wish CeCe's dad was around more."

"Oh, no. It's not like that at all," Ariadne said sweetly. "We all live together. They're both her father." She smiled down at Gwen. "Right, honey? We're going home soon."

Gwen grinned up at her and jumped up and down. "See Papa and Daddy! Papa gets ice cream."

"Oh, he _does?"_ Ariadne said laughing, pushing herself up to her feet. "What else does he give you that you're not supposed to have?"

Heather was frowning at Ariadne, still trying to wrap her brain around the concept. "But... How could that even work? It doesn't make any sense," she said as Gwen started shouting "Cookies!"

Ariadne grinned at Gwen, who started CeCe chanting "Cookies!" as they ran around each other in circles. "It works for us," she said with a smile. "They get along really well. Maybe we can set up a play date for the girls?"

Heather's expression shuttered. "No, I don't think I want CeCe around that sort of stuff."

Frowning after her, Ariadne gathered Gwen up in her arms. "I have some crackers in the bag as a snack."

"I want that!" Gwen cried, laughing as she held onto Ariadne.

Gwen didn't need to spend time with every kid she met, anyway.

 

 **FIVE**

Baby Julian had blue eyes, so they thought perhaps he would have more of Eames' features. She rocked him in his stroller, watching Arthur and Eames play tag with Gwen. She was nearly four, and would be entering the pre-K program her mother had recommended. They were planning to visit the center during the open house after running around the park. It would be better for the center if Gwen was tired out a bit. She loved exploring and getting into things, and she had turned out to be quite the little social butterfly. Ariadne grinned when Gwen tumbled headfirst into Arthur's legs shouting "I got you!" at the top of her lungs. Eames snuck up behind her and lifted her up, swinging her in circles to her delight.

The center where the pre-K program was housed was state of the art. They had excellent security, including biometrics and ID's on file, which Arthur approved of. Children had gymnastics classes and swimming lessons as well as a free floating curriculum that seemed to rival a Montessori school. Gwen immediately introduced herself to the teachers and the other children present. She brought some of the other parents over to Ariadne. "This is _Maman,"_ Gwen said, her French accent perfect. _"Et mon frère,_ Julian. He's just a baby. He's not potty trained. I am!" she chortled, sending Ariadne to laughing along with the other parents. "And that's Papa and that's Daddy," she said, bringing them over to Arthur and Eames. "Papa always gets me extra dessert."

Eames laughed. "Best part of dinner, I say."

"Ah, this is..." one father began, looking discomfited.

"Our daughter Gwen is really outgoing," Arthur said. He hunkered down in front of Gwen and the other little girl. "Hi. I'm Gwen's Dad. What's your name?"

The girl clung to her father's leg. "Mara."

"Well, that's pretty," Arthur said with a smile. "You've met Gwen already. She likes to play."

"Let's go play blocks!" Gwen cried, dragging Mara over to the brightly colored blocks in the room.

Ariadne carried Julian over in the baby sling. "Well, Jules is finally asleep, poor thing. Too much excitement for one day, I think," she said fondly. "The girls really get along great."

"Want me to carry Julian a while, love?" Eames asked, watching Ariadne rub her lower back.

"Would you? That would be great." Arthur helped her work the sling over her head without waking up the baby before transferring him over to Eames. She smiled at Mara's father. "I'm Ariadne," she said, holding out her hand. "You've met Arthur and Eames."

"Michael," Mara's father said, shaking her hand limply. "Er..."

Gwen ran back over holding a large size dress from the play trunk in the room. "It's a princess dress! Uncle Saito got me a nicer one!"

"Hush," Arthur said as Eames snickered. "It's not nice to show off."

"But the one he got me is softer."

"Silk usually is, honey," Ariadne managed to say with a straight face. "Why don't you show Mara the dress? The two of you can play dress up."

"Kids," Arthur laughed as Gwen ran back to Mara. "It's always funny to hear the things they say."

"Yeah," Michael said, looking discomfited. "I should go check on the girls."

"Sure thing," Ariadne replied easily.

"Nice to meet you," Eames called out as Michael left.

"I'm really glad the academics are good," Arthur commented. "The people aren't very open minded."

"Oh, hush," Ariadne said with a smile, rubbing his arm gently. "They'll learn."

 

 **PLUS ONE**

"I can't believe Phillipa's graduating college," Eames grumbled, slouching in his chair. "I feel so bleeding old."

"It was bound to happen sooner or later," Arthur remarked, glancing at the ceremony program. "She's planning to go to Germany for art school after."

"She's always been a good artist. I love that mural she did in Julian's room," Ariadne said, looking over her own copy of the program. It was an outdoor ceremony, and the kids had gotten restless. Usually it helped to have the two of them sitting in between the three adults, but it was hot and they didn't like being in such formal clothes. Gwendolyn would be turning nine soon, and Julian had just started kindergarten. Eames probably had a point about feeling old.

"I think Cobb said that Saito bought Phillipa a flat as a graduation present," Eames commented, leaning back in his chair.

"Is that all? I'd've thought it was a townhouse," Ariadne snarked.

"It's a studio," Arthur corrected. "I had to introduce a good security man to Dom to make sure it was wired up properly." He rolled up his sleeves after tucking the program into Ariadne's bag. "Saito was supposed to arrive in time for the ceremony..."

"There's still ten minutes to go, and we have the seats saved," Eames said, checking his watch.

Ariadne was looking around the open quad for where Gwen and Julian would have run off to. They had promised to stay nearby, and they were old enough to know better than run off. The one time they did in Kenya had resulted in a spanking and no dessert for a month. Begging Eames hadn't helped their cause at all, and he had only remarked that there were child leashes to prevent that from happening again. It had worked like a charm. She covered her eyes against the glaring sunlight and found Gwen's bright red dress easily enough. Julian was beside her in the beige slacks and navy blazer that Ariadne had chosen for him to wear. He had wanted to wear a red tie like Daddy, but Papa had to tie it; Daddy almost always made them come out crooked. She grinned when she saw who they were talking to.

"There they are. Just in time."

Gwen and Julian were leading Saito toward the three of them. Gwen was chatting animatedly to Uncle Saito, telling him all about how well her riding lessons were going. Julian tried to pipe in that he was the best violinist in his class, which got Gwen to reply that she was the best cellist and they had to find someone to listen to tell them who was a better player. "C'mon, Uncle Saito," Gwen chirped, tugging on his arm. "We saved you seats! You can sit next to Daddy or Papa. No one's sitting next to Papa yet. I don't know why. They're all the bestest parents _ever._ Mara's dad is all boring and only reads the paper on weekends when I sleep over. _Maman_ has all her drawings and models and Daddy makes the best pancakes and Papa has the best storytelling voices."

Saito smiled and sat down next to Arthur. Gwen clambered up between Eames and Ariadne, and Julian needed a boost to sit between Ariadne and Arthur. Both were beaming, though Julian was the quieter of the two. Generally, Gwen did all the talking for him.

"It is good to be here, my friends," Saito said, greeting the adults. "We should meet more often."

Ariadne grinned at Saito. "Most definitely. You're a part of our family, too."

The commencement music started, and they all sat back to watch Phillipa Cobb graduate.

The End.


End file.
